Equity benchmarks began the week on a positive note, driven by a rally in banks as well as cement stocks. The performance helped the Nifty hold on to its 9300-mark.

The Sensex was up 67.35 points at 29926.15, while the Nifty was up 25.40 points at 9310.70. The market breadth, however, was narrow as 1,634 shares advanced against a decline of 1,155 shares declined, while 178 shares were unchanged.

Ambuja Cements, Eicher Motors, Asian Paints and Lupin gained the most on both indices, while ITC, HDFC and BPCL lost the most.